Beyond the Echo Chamber: Creating a More Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive Nuclear Weapons Policy Field

Research Associate Louis Reitmann co-authored a policy paper titled “Beyond the Echo Chamber: Creating a More Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive Nuclear Weapons Policy Field”, published by the British American Security Information Council (BASIC). The co-authors on the paper were Sneha Nair, Ian Fleming Zhou, Monalisa Hazarika, and Almuntaser Bluwi.

The authors analyse how different stakeholder groups, such as indigenous peoples, non-Western voices, women, and queer people, have systemically been denied access to debate and decision-making on nuclear weapons issues. They explain how their exclusion has contributed to poor and harmful nuclear weapons policy, and how increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among officials, experts, and practitioners offers tangible benefits to the entire policy community. Finally, they provide actionable recommendations for governments and organisations to create and implement effective DEI measures.

“The nuclear policy space needs to realise that diversity begets diversity, and a lack of diversity sustains a lack of diversity. Leaders must create conditions that sustainably increase DEI’s positive effects on behaviour and collaboration and reduce stereotyping and conflict to improve outcomes in the nuclear weapons policy field and the community of practitioners.”

This is one of five policy papers written by a global cadre of early-career researchers from BASIC’s Emerging Voices Network, an initiative established to empower underrepresented and next-generation experts in the nuclear field. The papers were compiled in a six-month research programme titled “De-siloing Existential Threats: Challenging Identity, Power, and Inclusivity in the Nuclear Policy Field”, supported by Ploughshares Fund. The series of papers was presented at an online event on 18 July 2023.